On Sunday, Yankees 1B/DH Josh Phelps did something old school Rotisserie players long to see - gaining eligibility at a postion no one could possibly forsee (Re: Neifi Perez). He made an appearance at catcher. As a result, those who play in leagues where in-season postion eligibility is one appearance have just added a player who can reasonably be expected to hit 10+ if given 300 ABs.
That type of production leaves Phelps at the very end of the 1B/CR rankings in AL-only leagues, but, add catcher-eligibility, and he becomes a desired quantity. If you use two catchers, then he is better than every single back-up in the AL, and arguably better than starting catchers Dioner Navarro, Jason Kendall, the Royals starting catcher, Gregg Zaun and Mike Napoli.
The biggest risk to Phelps' 2007 production remains the same, though - playing time. With the Yankees struggling to get outs, there is little reason to carry two 1B and Jason Giambi when another arm is becoming increasingly necessary. Would I dump Mientkiewicz before Phelps? Sure because I only have concern about catcher-eligible first basemen. Would the Yankees, who can easily bury Mientky bat in their stacked line-up? I'm not so sure.